Submission + - Twitter Sues DoJ Over Restrictions on National Security Letter Data
Trailrunner7 writes: Twitter has filed a lawsuit in federal court asking that the United States Department of Justice’s prohibitions on publishing the number and kind of government requests for data the company receives be declared unconstitutional. The suit claims that the rules infringe on Twitter’s right to free speech by requiring that the company “engage in speech that has been preapproved by government officials or else to refrain from speaking altogether.”
The move by Twitter is the first public shot across the bow of the FBI and Justice Department on this issue. Many companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple and others, have been pressing the government for the ability to publish detailed information about the scope of the requests they receive for user data. The government so far has said that companies can publish only broad ranges of numbers about the volume of National Security Letters they receive, which only gives a vague picture of the situation.
"Twitter’s ability to respond to government statements about national security surveillance activities and to discuss the actual surveillance of Twitter users is being unconstitutionally restricted by statutes that prohibit and even criminalize a service provider’s disclosure of the number of national security letters (“NSLs”) and court orders issued pursuant to FISA that it has received, if any," the suit says.
The move by Twitter is the first public shot across the bow of the FBI and Justice Department on this issue. Many companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple and others, have been pressing the government for the ability to publish detailed information about the scope of the requests they receive for user data. The government so far has said that companies can publish only broad ranges of numbers about the volume of National Security Letters they receive, which only gives a vague picture of the situation.
"Twitter’s ability to respond to government statements about national security surveillance activities and to discuss the actual surveillance of Twitter users is being unconstitutionally restricted by statutes that prohibit and even criminalize a service provider’s disclosure of the number of national security letters (“NSLs”) and court orders issued pursuant to FISA that it has received, if any," the suit says.